


Invisible Strings (I.E. the whole basketball team)

by Tori-Katherine (toria0928)



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Ridiculous misunderstandings, everyone knows but Ryan, nervous Chad is nervous, oblivious!ryan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25565038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toria0928/pseuds/Tori-Katherine
Summary: Ryan Evans decides one day that everyone in this school has lost their minds. It’s been going on for a few weeks now. At first it was just Gabriella and Taylor, sitting behind him in homeroom, tapping on his shoulder to ask him random questions. Then it started getting insane.Or, the one where Ryan is oblivious and Chad is a bumbling idiot and the Wildcats decide to take matters into their own hands
Relationships: Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans
Comments: 22
Kudos: 670





	Invisible Strings (I.E. the whole basketball team)

Ryan Evans decides one day as he’s walking to the lunchroom that everyone in this school has lost their damn minds.

It’s been going on for a few weeks now. At first it was just Gabriella and Taylor, sitting behind him in homeroom, tapping on his shoulder to ask him random questions-- “What’s your favorite food? Do you like movies? Celebrity crushes?” --Ryan thought it was some strange way of befriending him, though after the insane summer they had he was under the impression they were already friends. But he played along, answering the absurd questions diligently-- “Sushi, yes I love movies, Liam Hemsworth.”

Then it started getting insane.

He’d walk down the halls and someone would come up to him-- “Hey, where you headed?” --someone he’d never spoken to in his life. He chalked it up to new year buzz along with the strange mashing of worlds lead by Troy and Gabriella that had the world (at least, the world of East High) acting like everyone was friends with everyone and no one--not even the Evans twins--were off limits.

But then he was being followed by a posse of basketball players, all asking him questions ranging from random to invasive. Questions about his hat collection, about his friendship with Kelsi, about his relationship with his parents. It was driving him nuts.

The worst, because of course it would be, was Chad Danforth.

They had a tenuous friendship going since their odd little baseball game over the summer. Chad was friendly during group outings but never made a point to hang out with just Ryan. Which was… Fine. Ryan enjoyed hanging out with him, a lot actually, but he was fine with the small moments he got, the times their friends left them alone and they got to just talk. Ryan was fine with that, with having just that.

Except now it seemed Chad had no interest in hanging out with Ryan alone at all.

It wasn’t that Chad was being rude or unfriendly, quite the contrary in fact. Chad was kind and thoughtful and gracious, and was always going out of his way to say hi to Ryan, to sit next to him at lunch. When Gabi and Taylor invited everyone to eat after school, Chad immediately turned to Ryan and asked if he was going.

Which was… it was making Ryan feel things. Things he had no interest in exploring, thank you very much.

But as soon as Ryan and Chad were alone (they had relocated to Gabi’s house, and the group had paired off and wandered away from the two of them, still seated next to each other on a rather small loveseat) Chad got nervous and flighty. It seemed like he couldn’t get away from Ryan fast enough.

Ryan felt like he was losing his damned mind.

So now Ryan was walking to lunch, eyes darting nervously between the classmates giving him smiles and nods and waves, praying that Sharpay would grace them with her presence today and he would be saved from the questions and the looks and the Chad.

But whatever insanity was spreading through East High, she was not immune to. She had been acting strange, sure, but nothing Ryan couldn’t explain away with usual Sharpay weirdness. Whenever he was invited to social activities, she pressed him to say yes so he could “spy” on them and report back to her. What he was supposed to be reporting he could never figure out, especially since Sharpay seemed to completely forget about the odd demands later. At lunch, instead of demanding Ryan’s complete attention she’d all but ignore him as soon as Chad sat down on his other side. She was being weird and secretive about pretty much everything, and her behavior was the worst part of this whole thing because he couldn’t even complain to her about Chad.

Ryan managed to make it to the lunchroom without having to answer too many personal questions, and spotted Chad already sitting at their usual table. He looked nervous, hands fidgeting and eyes scanning the room. When he spotted Ryan, his face lit up in a way that had Ryan’s knees weak and yes this was a very serious issue that Ryan was going to have to deal with cause there's no way he could have it this bad for the brainless basketball player who couldn’t even tell Guys and Dolls from West Side Story.

But Chad was smiling and waving him over, and the table was empty save for him and Ryan already had his lunch in his hand and had no excuse to go running like a crazy person for the hills like he wanted to.

Slowly, Ryan sat down next to Chad, searching frantically for the rest of their usual table mates.

“Hey, Ry.” Chad said, and really Ryan should correct him cause only Sharpay called him Ry, but he was having trouble breathing and Ryan liked that he had stopped calling him Evans. “How’s your day going?”

It was an odd question, especially from Chad who usually didn’t do small talk. “Fine.” Ryan said, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he was. “Yours?”

“Better now.” Chad said, smirking, and oh fuck was Ryan done for theres no way Chad was flirting with him what is his life?

Ryan chuckled, his heart pounding, “Glad I could be of service.”

“There’s a movie showing in the village,” Chad said lightly, “It’s some cheesy bad horror film, might be fun. Wanna go?”

“A horror film?” Ryan laughed. “What about me makes you think ‘horror’?”

Chad nodded, arm brushing Ryans. “Absolutely nothing, but it got a 0 on rotten tomatoes and had some of the funniest reviews I’ve ever read, so I thought we might spend the whole time making fun of it.”

Chad’s bright smile was contagious, and Ryan found himself grinning stupidly. “That does sound fun. I’m in. Who else is going?”

Ryan might have imagined the slight flinch, the way Chad’s smile dimmed as he looked away from Ryan, down at his food. But he couldn’t have imagined the way his voice changed as he answered. “Oh, uh, I don’t know yet, you’re the first person I asked.”

“Okay,” he replied, frowning as the basketball player's mood changed drastically before his eyes. East High was definitely losing its mind.

Chad started to play with his phone, his strange quietness not ebbing as a few moments later the table started to fill back up with their friends. Ryan watched as Sharpay sat beside him, Zeke in tow. She gave him a strange look, rolled her eyes dramatically and turned to Zeke. “I told you.”

~

Ryan was in his room that Saturday, throwing hats out of his closet. The collection landed messily on his floor but he was too nervous to care, trying on fedora after trilby after newsie cap.

“Ry, what are you doing?!” Sharpay’s shrill voice came from his doorway but he didn’t look away from the mirror, trying to decide if the bright pink sequined cap on his head was too much.

“Hey Shar,” He said absently, tearing the hat off his head and chucking it across the room. He grabbed a teal trilby and stuck it on his head, his frustration growing.

Sharpay sighed dramatically and threw herself down on Ryan’s bed. “Zeke’s not going to make it tonight, his parents are making him stay in for ‘family bonding’. Apparently they think I ‘monopolize’ his time and it’s my fault he’s falling behind in history.” Ryan smirked at her through his mirror, knowing full well it _was_ partially her fault. “Shut up! He’s been practicing baking for that dumb contest or whatever, it’s not _my_ fault.”

“Whatever are you going to do without your favorite Wildcat?” Ryan teased as he chucked his hat to the floor yet again.

“Oh, I’m not going.” Sharpay shrugged, getting up and venturing over Ryan’s mess of discarded caps and clothes. “There’s no way I’m purposefully spending quality time with any of those meat-heads.” Ryan stared at her as she pulled out a lilac cap and a simple floral shirt to match, throwing them at her brother.

“You’re not going? Troy and Gabi are skipping too, according to Chad.”

Sharpay pointed at the hat in his hand. “Wear that, trust me.”

Ryan looked at the clothes as his sister left the room, placing the hat on his head and looking in the mirror. He did look good in this shade he supposed… The fear of spending any more time deciding scared him enough to change into the shirt and switch shoes. Finally he felt ready as he left the house.

It would only be him, Jason, Kelsi and Chad, but he could handle that. He could definitely handle that.

~

He couldn’t handle this.

As soon as he got to the movie theater and walked up to a waiting Chad standing outside the ticket booth, he got a text from Kelsi saying she was sick and Jason had to study for a pop quiz someone found out about. Ryan knew these were both lies.

When he told Chad, the basketball player just laughed and shook his head. Chad bought them tickets anyway as well as popcorn and drinks (“You can get us next time”) and they seated themselves in the back of the theater.

Now the lights were dimming, the theater was mostly empty, and Chad’s arm was pressed against Ryan’s. Ryan wondered if they forgot to turn on the oxygen in the room, though that was unlikely.

Chad laughed at the first death scene, and Ryan wanted to but he couldn’t breathe, and Chad was reaching over him to grab popcorn, and their hands brushed and Ryan felt his stomach drop and--

“Hey, you okay man?”

“Huh?” Ryan looked up at the boy beside him, his face terrifyingly close in the darkness. His expression was concerned, and he placed a hand on Ryan’s forearm. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m fine.”

“Is it too scary?” Chad teased. “If we need to leave early…”

Ryan laughed, feeling himself relax a little. “Shut up, Danforth.” He replied, punching Chad’s arm playfully.

“Whatever you say, Evans.” Chad cackled loudly, getting a few shushes from the few people there. Quietly, he continued, “But just so you know, there’s no reason to be scared. I’ll protect you.”

To Ryan’s absolute horror, Chad’s arm snaked its way around Ryan’s shoulders and pulled the boy into his chest, his smirk playful and relaxed and infuriating when Ryan felt like his world was falling below him.

They watched the movie this way, Chad’s arm around Ryan, Ryan dizzyingly content and more calm than he had any business being. They laughed at the cheesiness of the movie, the fake blood and the terrible plot line and acting. Chad kept turning to Ryan when a girl screamed and would say something like “Can you imagine Gabriella trying to act like that” or “Sharpay would just tell them to kiss her boot, and they probably would” and Ryan would laugh.

Eventually Ryan used his hand not tucked between the two of them to adjust his hat, and Chad, seemingly jumping at the opportunity, snatched Ryan’s hand out of the air and held it, interlocking their fingers. His eyes were on the screen and Ryan wasn’t about to say anything, so Ryan left his hand in Chad’s. Not that there was a chance Ryan would have pulled away.

As they left the theater, Chad let go of Ryan’s hand. Ryan’s sense of remorse left as soon as it came, as Chad threw away their trash and grabbed Ryan’s hand as soon as his were free.

Ryan hadn’t really let himself explore the implications of Chad’s behavior. If he were being honest with himself, he didn’t want to know what it meant that Chad hadn’t let go of Ryan’s hand as they stood outside their cars to talk. He didn’t want to know what Chad was thinking as his thumb absently ran circles across the back of his hand. He couldn’t let himself believe Chad was feeling any of the things Ryan was feeling when Chad squeezed his hand before letting go, climbing into his beat up car and waving goodbye at Ryan.

Ryan drove home listening to music, not really hearing it but not letting his brain think about what Chad might have wanted when he had stared at Ryan’s lips.

~

This was getting ridiculous.

He was in one of his few classes with Kelsi the Monday after seeing the movie with Chad. He sat down, perfectly ignorant of the stares, perfectly content, when Kelsi asked, decidedly loudly, “So how was the movie?”

It felt like the whole room had turned at her voice, all eyes on him, quiet as they waited for a response. Reasonably, Ryan was sure it was only the ones nearest to them, the Wildcats and random theater kids surrounding them. But Ryan certainly felt like the entire student body was waiting on bated breath.

“Fine?” Ryan said finally, giving the teens a weird look.

Kelsi sighed. “Just fine?”

“Uh,” Ryan frowned, feeling more than a little confused, “Yeah, the movie sucked but it was fun. Why are you all so interested?”

“So, did… I mean, did you two,” Jason started from Kelsi’s other side, and was promptly smacked by Kelsi. “I mean, was the movie good?”

“I just said it sucked.” Ryan answered, and the staring finally came to a close as the teacher regained attention for class.

After the bell rang Ryan bolted from the room to avoid any more weird looks or weirder questions. He was all but running down the hallway when he barreled into someone, almost falling to the ground. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your perspective, he was caught by none other than Chad Danforth.

“Hey, where’s the fire, Ry?” Chad laughed, and Ryan was very aware of the way Chad’s arms were wrapped around his waist, the way Ryan’s hands had grabbed the back of Chad’s neck of their own volition, the way Chad was leaning in, getting very _very_ close to Ryan. He was also aware of the gathering eyes.

“Ah, Chad, sorry I was just,” Ryan huffed, feeling out of breath as he tried to pull away. He _tried,_ as in, Chad was still holding on to Ryan’s waist and was actually pretty strong and Ryan couldn’t really break from the grasp subtly. He pulled his hands from Chad’s neck, trying desperately to make this moment seem less intimate to the onlookers, but failed spectacularly when his hands just came to rest on Chad’s chest and oh my _lord_ is he strong and this was just too much he needs to get away from this situation right now or he’s going to pass out or--

Suddenly Ryan was unable to think of anything as Chad smiled at him. Like, _really_ smiled, the kind of smile he never saw Chad use outside of winning a basketball game or… no, pretty much just winning a basketball game.

It was bright and shiny and kind of everything Ryan loved about Chad--scratch that, _liked_ , very very much--and Ryan couldn’t help the small, shy smile that was forming in return. Chad was smiling like that, was _holding_ Ryan, and he was finding it harder and harder to explain away Chad’s behavior.

Maybe… Maybe Chad… Liked him.

After what felt like an eternity, Chad pulled back a bit, letting go of his waist. Ryan extracted his hands from the boy’s chest begrudgingly.

“So, Ryan. Uh. I was thinking, um. That.”

Ryan beamed at Chad, feeling his heart warm and his body tingle at the thought that Chad might possibly be _nervous_. “Yes?” He sang teasingly.

Chad glared at him, his smile not really fading giving him away. “I was _wondering,_ ” He said again, a bit more confident. “If you would like to go to dinner. Sushi. Just the two of us.”

“I,” Ryan laughed nervously, looking around at the gathered body of students he had almost forgotten about. “Are you serious?”

“As a date.” He said, seemingly pointedly.

“You’re serious.” Ryan laughed again. “You, Chad Danforth, want to go on a date with me, Ryan Evans.”

“That was the plan, yes.”

“A _date_ date?”

“Is there another kind?”

“But,” Ryan felt he was being a bit hysterical “but you… I thought you… But you never said…”

Chad took Ryan’s hand in his, pulling Ryan closer with a smile. “I’ve been trying to ask you out for weeks.”

Ryan choked, his hand tightening around Chad’s, “ _What_ ? How could I not know about…” Ryan’s eyes widened, and damn if he didn’t want to smack himself hard enough to just die on the spot. “The _movie_ .” He said incredulously. “I’m an _idiot_. That was a date.”

“Well, Taylor says it doesn’t count ‘cause you didn’t realize it, but it was supposed to be.”

“Is that why everyone’s been acting weird?”

Chad looked guilty, grimacing at him. “For the record, I didn’t tell them to do any of that. They just wanted to help, I guess.”

“By asking me random personal questions and harassing me all day?”

“Taylor supplied me with a rather in depth binder on all things Ryan Evans. I suppose it was so I could make us the perfect date or something.” Chad pushed back his hair nervously, looking up at Ryan through his lashes and squeezing Ryan’s hand. “You never actually answered my question, though. Do you wanna get sushi? With me?”

Ryan couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes. Yeah, of course I want to, that would be… Yes.”

Chad smiled. _Smiled,_ smiled. And Ryan felt pretty pleased.

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I wrote cause we all need a little more Chad/Ryan in our lives! Hope you like it, tell me if you didn't or don't I'm very sensitive lol


End file.
